Episode 18 — It’s Got to be A Slow Day Sometimes
“Grandpa fixed Tenshi’s and Kale’s papers for the academy.” Collin says, “Tenshi will be in class while Kale will be part of the PE department.”
“Seriously?” Kale asks.
“Yeah, so I guess you have one up on us during class hours.” Collin grins.
“Hear that Astrid?” Kale looks at Astrid, “One up over you.”
“U- huh…” she grins, “try pulling anything I’ll kick your ass at home.”
“Whatever.” He grumbles earning laughter from the others.
It was half an hour before class and they just arrived at NSA. The others were still trying to steal a few winks, while Astrid tried to talk with Kale and Dimitri about the situation, unfortunately, the others won’t leave them alone.
Luckily, Guenevere was already briefed of the situation, though Astrid would have preferred to get to know her before throwing her into this mess.
“So will you be moving to our class now Gen?” Dimitri asks. “Cause that would be cool, right Jared?”
“I guess…” Jared groans half asleep.
“No, fortunately.” She glanced at me knowingly. “There’s no need to.”
“Just tell us if you want, so we can check on it.”
“I’m quite happy where I am, thank you, Miss Allana.”
“Well, in case you need anything, don’t hesitate to come to us.” Ash says, “Jared will probably make things easier for you.”
Astrid grins, amused of how the boys had been teasing Jared with Guenevere since last night. According to Damien, Jared had never been turned down by any girl, much more shouted at like what Gen did last night.
“Whatever.” Jared groans again.
“Uhuh, yeah, real helpful.” Gen mumble.
Jared sat up and glares at her, “Can’t a guy get some sleep here? God, it isn’t easy having a missing brother and nagging parents you know.”
The tension in the car was instantaneous, though our group was growing, Derek was missing, and it isn’t the same.
On cue, the car stops in front of the academy and Dimitri was the first one out.
Astrid massaged my temple not excited about how the day would unfold.
“You ok?” Damien asks.
“Yeah, just a little tired I guess.”
“We’ll go home right after class so you can get some sleep.” He says, running his hand through my hair,. “C’mon…”
He steps out of the car and reached in to help me out. The boys- except for Damien, Collin, and Kale- were already being crowded upon by girls who were saying how much they missed them, how the academy was so depressing, and where Derek was.
“He’s just fooling around with something at home, you know how my brother is.” Jared sighed. “Makes me damn worried.”
“Wow, way to go big brother,” Gen says sarcastically.
Jared gave her a look and then went back to talking with the girls. He was genuinely worried, the four boys had never been apart for as long as a day especially Jared and Derek, even at the orphanage they were like brothers. And using these girls' attention kept him from thinking of the worse about his brother’s whereabouts.
“Jared.” Astrid calls out, “No need to worry right? He’ll be here by tonight.”
Jared smiles, “Yes, he’ll be home tonight.” the girls around him sighed again.
Before turning to leave he mouthed thank you to Astrid, and she just smiled in return.
“Good deed for the day cleared,” Collin says.
“Not quite.” She steps up hand on her waist. “Jared, Ash, Dimtri get your asses here!”
The three boys’ heads turned toward her so fast, it would be no surprise if they get whiplashed after.
“Seriously, some seniors you are.” She snaps.
“Astrid…” Jared whines.
“Now!”
They shrugged and walked toward us.
“You girls better not be following us, you hear?”
“Yes, miss.” They groaned.
“Good.”
“Astrid, you’re running us dry.” Dimitri grunts.
“Yeah, dry of STD.” she then glanced at Collin, “Now my good deed is done.”
The whole day was pretty much uneventful. Classes were boring and the break time was spent sleeping, almost missing the afternoon classes.
“Hey…” Astrid sits beside Dimitri.
“Hey, you ok?” he asks sharpening his dagger.
“Problem.” She whispers, he raised a brow. “I have a lot to tell you Dimitri… I’ve been keeping secrets-“
“We all have secrets, Astrid.” He says not even looking up at me.
She sighed and handed the palm tap to him, showing the file Derek sent her. He scrolls through, slowly his eyes widened, and turned to her.
“I’m sorry Dimitri…”
“What are you saying?”
“Did Father Charles ever told you why he wants me dead?” she asks.
“Well, not really.” He says, thinking. “I just assume it was because you threatened to kill him or almost killed him. Then your departure also meant cut down on our income.”
She shook her head and stared at Hera.
“The real Hera is your sister.”
“What?!”
We both turned to look at the others in case someone woke up from Dimitri’s mini outburst.
“I’ve caught father Charles with her mother during an assignment, they have been together for longer than everyone thought, probably around after the birth of the quadruplets.” She says. “I just never thought… I didn’t…” she shrugged facing him. “She was trying to save her. The reason she called me was so I can take her to your father. Maybe so he can acknowledge her somehow, even as just one of his assassins.”
He stared at her as if she was growing a second head, his face showed different emotions, and if he hits her right now, she wouldn’t even be surprised.
“I know I should have told you.” Astrid continues, “But I found out when I already had her settled with the Jetsons, the more reason I can’t bring her home to us. Father Charles had her mother killed, what more if he finds out about her.”
“Where is she?” he asks.
“Home, Derek had already met her.” She says. “He’ll be coming home tonight with her and the family will be taking her home.”
“What do they need from her?”
“She’s the only living legitimate heir.”
“Yeah, well, you made sure of that, didn’t you?” he shakes his head, “And why would she not have told you this sooner?”
She looks over her shoulder at the sleeping Hera. She can’t hear them, Astrid was sure of that, but she was still scared.
“She knows I killed her father,” she says. “And Derek says they were all very close to him, so I’m thinking…”
“She wants revenge?” she nods, not wanting to take a chance of anyone hearing.
“So the real one is the acting head of the family?”
“I never killed him, I didn’t have the guts to. I didn’t accept the money because I didn’t want to do it. I would have backed out. But I thought what if the mother was telling the truth? What if he was hurting them? What if he kills them?” she remembers that day like yesterday, having spent a whole day spying inside the Ozawa land.
“But I saw how he was,” she continues. “I saw how much he loved his children, how he would be so gentle and sweet with his way of talking with them, how he patiently listens to them whining or telling a senseless story… He can’t be the man that the woman told me.”
“I was going to cancel the deal.” She adds. “But on the way, I heard noises from one of the rooms, then a little girl screamed. I went inside and saw Kale killing the mother. I took the girl, she was a liability to us, she saw me talking with her mother and saw Kale kill her.”
“So you knew she isn’t-“
“I always thought I had the right girl.” Astrid raised a hand on her face, annoyed at herself. “Her mother never mentioned another daughter. They look the same except for the…” she paused and looks at his hair, “except for the hair. I didn’t think, all I could concentrate on was the trouble Kale and I will be in with the houses having a little girl witness our business.”
She shrugs as she watches her friend be rendered speechless with her confession.
“Believe me Dimtri, I didn’t expect this mess… I didn’t want to be part of it… it was wrong to keep it from you and-“
“Am glad you did.” He cuts in, catching Astrid surprised. “Am glad you kept it from me, Astrid. Or I would have blamed her for everything, I would have been so mad at her,” he chuckles, “I probably would hate her. But knowing father by now? I guess an illegitimate sister isn’t the worst news.”
This time it was Astrid who was rendered speechless earning a laugh from Dimitri.
“Don’t worry about it, Astrid.” He says, “You are still the little sister I grew up with, aren’t you?”
That broke her thoughts and laughs. “Yeah, so you say…”
“So she’ll be arriving tonight?”
“Yes, with Derek and the family.”
“Is that a good idea?” he asks, turning serious again.
“I’m not sure,” she shrugged, “that’s why I want you to look after Damien and Ash. Make sure they’re safe.”
“What?”
“I just want to deal with this on my own.” She says. “I don’t want any of you hurt.”
“But-“
“Please Dimitri.” She begs. “I won’t be able to forgive myself if anything happens to them.”
He looks at the gang who were all asleep on the grass, Collin’s coat draped over Allana’s legs, as he lied beside her, and arm over her waist. Ash and Jared were under a tree’s shade. Ash had an arm over his eyes, while Jared was lying on his stomach. Beside them Hera was in a fetus position, her coat covering over her legs. While Damien was just a meter or two away from them, lying on his back, one arm under his head, other arm spread out beside him where Astrid was lying on a few minutes ago Surprisingly, Gen did accept an invitation from Allana, and was also asleep, leaning on a tree.
Kale was probably still in class.
“Will you be telling Kale?”
“I’m not sure, I should though. Gen knows, so I might not. I don’t know how he’ll take it, I don’t need him confused.”
“So, it’s just the two of us again?” he grins playfully.
Astrid grins back, “Just like the old days.”
That night, it was as if sleep, or lack thereof, isn’t an issue. They stood in the main hall, waiting for Derek.
“Collin, have they called?” Ash asks again.
Collin shook his head, “Sorry.”
“They did say tonight, didn’t they?” Hera asks.
“Yeah, they did.” Kale answers.
Astrid sighed and ran her hand through her hair until she felt someone hold her free hand.
“Hey…” Damien whispers, “they’ll be here, don’t worry.”
“I know…” she more than knew, she planned it. But they were late. “Maybe we should call them.”
“They promised that they’ll come home tonight,” Damien says, “Dad never breaks a promise, and neither does Drew or your dad.”
“Everything will be fine, princess,” Jared says, That was what she kept telling herself, she knew it would be, but she had a feeling something’s wrong.
“Maybe we should go to rest?” Allana says. “Knowing Derek he’ll be waking us up.”
“But-“
Their tension shook when Collin’s phone rings which he quickly picked up, wanting answers himself.
“Collin.” He says, then he turned to me, “Yes, yes uncle… she’s right here… ok… just a sec…” he hands me the phone, “It’s your dad.”
“What’s going on?” she quickly asks.
“Everything’s going ok, but we won’t be able to get there in time for the night flight.” He says, “We’ll fly in tomorrow morning.”
“Why?” I frowned.
“Some storm delayed the plane.” She frowns, how can a private plane be delayed?
“Oh, well…” not sure how to check on them without the others picking up something, “Is Derek ok?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. According to him, he was well taken care of.” He says with a laugh.
Astrid already knows that what she wants to know is if they were ok at the moment.
“Can we talk to him? It would ease all of us.”
“Well…”
“Please daddy?” she genuinely begged, her father can never say no to that, which is why he just answered her with a chuckle.
“Astrid?”
“Derek!” Relief ran through her. Everyone moved up to her, so I put the phone on speakers, “how are you?”
“I’m fine.” He says, sounding excited. “Is everyone there?”
“Hell yeah, doofus!” Ash says.
“You are in such big trouble with mom and dad, Lil brother,” Jared says.
Derek laughs, “I know, I know… got that part from Uncle Ashton and Uncle Rhaumwald.”
“So should we have a welcoming committee for you?” Damien asks.
“As long as the ladies are there and you boys won’t be, I don’t mind,” Derek says with a laugh.
“Glad they didn’t beat you up so hard Derek,” Dimitri says.
“Yeah, well, they were too busy checking out their English dictionary the whole time I was there.”
They laughed again.
“Will you be home tonight?” Tenshi asks.
“Oh, hey Shi…” Derek says, “Uhm about that, sort of stranded right now… but Uncle Rhaumwald says tomorrow morning.”
“Well, I guess we’ll get a chance to catch some sleep then.” Kale says, “And so should you. You’re probably tired.”
“Yeah, we just arrived home, mother just wants me to have dinner and rest afterward.” He then stifled a laugh, “That’s her way of saying I’m grounded. Anyway, it’s nice to hear from you guys, but don’t worry so much, I’ll be seeing me tomorrow and you’ll probably get sick of me again.”
“We won’t, silly,” Allana says. “Give it a week at least.”
“Get some rest big guy,” Collin says. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Alright, alright. Oh, Astrid, your dad wants to speak with you.”
“Put him on.” She says and puts the phone back to normal, “Dad.”
“It’s just me,” Derek says. “How are you doing there?”
“Ok, I guess. Just worried.”
He sighs, “Listen, there was a sighting of someone spying around the Matthews’ grounds, we’re just taking precautions, that’s why we’re delaying. We’ll be staying at Uncle Rhaumwald’s place tonight. The Ozawa had brought all their men seeing we are with Han and Tenshi, that guy met at Russia also sent over guards, grandfather had called in everyone.”
“Hm, interesting.” Astrid nods. “That must be some crazy sand storm, dad.”
“It is,” Derek says, “but we’ll be fine. I know we’ll be. I just want you to know, cause I know how you get when kept in the dark. You’ll worry about yourself, and you’ll worry the others.”
She grins, “I won’t, I trust you.”
“Good, ‘cause I don’t think I can bear another person telling me how worried they were. Aunt Hannah scolded me, then hugged me and scolded me again. It’s been crazy.”
Astrid laughs, “That’s good to know. Anyway, I’ll be seeing you guys tomorrow.”
“Yeah, remember, chill.”
“I will.”
“Maybe you and Damien should-“
“Bye, dad.” She cuts him off and hangs up.
She turns to the gang and they all looked up at her.
“That sounded interesting.” Allana says, “Has he forgiven you already?”
“I guess so.” She shrugged and handed the phone back to Collin. “Anyway, we should get some shut-eye.”
“I second the notion.” Kale shrugs, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so frustrated and tired all at the same time. I swear, it took all my patience not to kill someone today.”
They stifled a laugh remembering him whining after school.
“I still haven’t caught enough sleep.” Ash yawn before kissing Astrid on the forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night big brother.” She says. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” He walks up the stairs.
“Good night princess,” Jared says and also kissing Astrid on the head.
“Good night.” She giggles and playfully pushing him away, making him laugh. “Hey wait up Ash.”
“I’ll go have to finish my history assignment first,” Dimitri says. “C’mon Tenshi, I’ll drop you off to your room. Give the couples a moment to themselves.”
“Shut up.” Astrid gives him a half meant glare.
But Tenshi stepped up and gave her a quick hug. “Good night big sister.”
“Good night, baby girl,” Astrid says extending her hug an extra second. Tenshi or not, this girl was still the girl she spent days training and considered as a little sister, that wouldn’t change.
She walks up to the lady’s dorm with Dimitri, he was harmless, he just wants to make sure that she does go straight to her room.
“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I am all for that moment with Allana,” Collin says.
Damien and Astrid laugh, “I’m sure you are. We’ll see you two tomorrow.”
“Good night cuz,” Allana says.
“Good night.”
“You two be good, you hear?” Damien teased.
“Right back at you, Cayce,” Collin says as they leave, looks like going to Allana’s room.
Astrid leans back Damien’s chest, closing her eyes, and trying to calm herself. She thought of the phone call with Derek, there was nothing wrong, no hidden message or whatever.
“So serious…” Damien whispers in her ear.
She smiles, “Just still a bit worried about Derek.”
Damien sighed and ran his arms around her waist, making her face him and pulling her close.
“He’s already with our dads,” he says, “they’ll be fine.”
“I know, but I’ll feel better if I see him, you know?” she whines.
“And you will.” He says, “Tomorrow morning.”
“That’s too long…” she groans, resting her forehead on his shoulder, making him laugh.
“Well, maybe I should take Collin’s advise.” He says. “Maybe I’ll spend the night with you so you wouldn’t be thinking of Derek tonight. Not that I’m jealous, but yeah, somewhere around those lines.”
Astrid laughs and looks up at him, “And what do you have in mind?”
He looks around as if making sure no one was listening. “It’s better done than said.”
“Damien…”
He laughs and pulls me tighter, “I’m not talking about that, angel.” He says, “We’re probably both too tired anyways,” I felt my cheeks blush, then he leaned forward and rested his forehead on mine, “I just missed waking up with you in my arms, that’s all.”
She smiles and links her arms over his neck. “Hm, now that you mentioned it…”’
“That’s settled then…” he swept her off my feet, making her squeal for a second, surprised. He laughs and carried her to her room.